Officials with Citgo Petroleum Corp. and the Audubon Nature Institute, as well as elected leaders, gathered on Friday (Aug. 29) at the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center to commemorate the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and to kick off a year-long coastal restoration campaign led by the oil and gas company.

The campaign, part of the Citgo's "Care for Our Coast" initiative, looks to coordinate education and volunteer efforts across the region as it nears a decade since hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore through the coast.

Shouting above the din of volunteer workers and brass music, Rafael Gomez, vice president of government and public affairs for Citgo, said the campaign taps the company's vast resources to bring more attention to the state's rapidly vanishing coastline and highlight restoration opportunities.

Gomez noted Citgo's Lake Charles refinery and manufacturing complex is located only 35 miles from the coast. Like residents, the company has a lot at stake in coastal restoration, he said.

"If we don't care enough about the restoration of the coastal land, we're going to be in trouble," Gomez said.

The effort comes as the state continues to implement its 50-year, $50 billion Coastal Master Plan to address what it says is a land loss crises, with an estimated 1,880 square miles of coastal land lost over the past eight decades. The state is currently losing about 16 square miles of wetlands each year.

The plan, approved in 2012, highlights some 109 projects that will help slow erosion and protect coastal communities, particularly outside of the levee system. Projects range from building oyster barrier reefs to creating marsh and restoring barrier islands along the coast.

It's not yet clear how much Citgo will seek to align its volunteer efforts with the state master plan.

Gomez acknowledged the Nature Center wetlands are inside the levee system and are not targeted by the state's master plan.

But he said it's an educational opportunity and strengthens key partnerships with the Audubon Nature Institute and the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, which also participated in the effort.

"This is to create more awareness and consciousness about what is going on and the opportunities we have" to combat coastal loss, Gomez said

Gomez said Citgo volunteers will also be going to Holly Beach in September to plant thousands of plugs of dune grass to help preserve dunes along a five mile stretch of the beach. Holly Beach is about an hour's drive south of Lake Charles and was battered by Hurricane Rita.

The state master plan includes a $45 million project to restore barrier islands just east of Citgo's planned project.

Citgo officials say they are still formulating a list of restoration projects to complete over the next year. The company declined to disclose how much money it was investing in the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center project or in its "Care for Our Coast" campaign.

In addition to volunteer projects, Gomez said the company will continue to work with the Ocean Exploration Trust to promote educational programs focused on coastal issues.

The trust, founded by Dr. Robert Ballard, known for his 1984 discovery of the RMS Titanic, offers students hands-on experience in ocean exploration and research.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is running in a close re-election campaign, spoke briefly, highlighting Citgo as a model for how the business community can play a role in stemming coastal erosion.

Landrieu joined Gomez and other leaders to plant nine saplings to commemorate nine years since the Hurricane Katrina made landfall before leaving to attend several other anniversary functions in the city.

Acknowledging the dozens of volunteers who drove from Lake Charles to New Orleans for the event, Landrieu said communities across the coast need to come together to restore it.

"We have to be more unified and work together and realize that there are so many assets in Louisiana we need to protect," Landrieu said.